In this week’s issue: Landing the whale

Intel’s investment in its Rio Rancho facility has fallen off in recent years, and the plant’s general manager, Kirby Jefferson, says the plant only has a two-year run left on the products it’s making.

That’s why this week Reporter Dan Mayfield took a look at the heft Intel still has in our local economy, and he talked to three Intel analysts about where the facility goes from here. Could the company's new line of wearable microchips cause a comeback for Rio Rancho? Read the article and tell us what you think.

Our reporters brought lots of other news to you this week as well.

Reporter Dennis Domrzalski wrote about the new medical school that is coming to NMSU. The project will run about $70 million—privately funded—and could add hundreds of residency slots for new doctors in the state.

Reporter Dan Mayfield reported that business accelerator ABQid expects to have its first class of businesses off the ground this summer. This past week, UNM's regents also approved the purchase of the First Baptist Church Downtown, which will become the new Innovate ABQ site. The approval means the city and UNM can move forward on a slew of plans for the Innovation Corridor and Innovate ABQ.

Reporter Damon Scott talked to Todd Clarke, who is the chair of the Downtown Action Team and a longtime commercial real estate broker, about Bernalillo County’s office consolidation plans. The plans call for the county to unify its operations, which will likely mean a move out of its multiple Downtown offices and into something in the North I-25 area or elsewhere. The departure of as many as 700 employees from Downtown could have significant impacts on the businesses left behind.

Also this week, editorial researcher Vasudha Tiwari created a list of the largest computer networking companies in New Mexico.